The Cost of Food Crime Phase 2

The Cost of Food Crime (CoFC) model identifies and measures the economic and social cost of food crime. This includes the direct impact on victims of food fraud and the criminal justice system, as well as the indirect impact on the economy from lost productivity, lost profits for competing firms, and non-financial impacts of pain, grief, and suffering. The outputs from the model provide an estimate of the total annual cost to the UK of food fraud alongside average per case estimation that offers direct usefulness for policy analysis.

Overall, we found that the combination of the very high degree of awareness of food safety, quality and fraud among large UK businesses, local authorities and enforcement agencies, and the extensive use of objective diagnostic testing means that the sector has built resilience to fraud. However, small and medium sized businesses in the UK are more vulnerable, and there is a real impact on the economy from frauds that occur.